SA Intelligencer Number 79
24 May – 6 June 2010 Initiator: Johan Mostert Editor: Dalene Duvenage Contributions and enquiries dalene@4knowledge.co.za
Reports from 24 May - 6 June 2010 Page 2. 2. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Africa: The size of the BP oil spill in SA context Uganda: Army gets intelligence training school Paper: Africa’s irregular security threats: challenges for US engagement African security-intelligence experts meet in Brazzaville Zimbabwe: Gov spied on diamond monitor SA: revised bill keeps harsh penalties for information peddling
Middle East 6. Mossad chief: Israel less important to US 6. Former Mossad agent ridicules Gaza ship raid 8. Yemen sentences Iranian spies to death America 8. Obama wants quick OK of choice for spy chief 9. National Security Advisor describes new strategy 10. UN criticism not likely to stop CIA drone attacks 11. US intelligence analyst arrested in Wikileaks video probe 13. State Dept loses round in CIA cover case 14. House approves GAO role in intelligence oversight Europe 14. Turkey appoints top spy as security threats shift 15. Turkey’s MIT’s new model: the CIA 15. UK: Ex-spy chief review 2012 security 16. Ukraine ends counterintelligence work on Russian FSB 16. 17. 18. 18. 18. 19. 19. 20. 20. 21.
Asia
officials-paper French Secret Service fear Russian cathedral a spying front Czech intelligence reports on China’s technological, Russian spying attempts Czech Rep: Russian spies “less active” NATO’s spy academy NATO and the spy from Estonia Terrorists seeking nuclear materials: Russian official CIA director lauds efforts of Bulgaria’s Borisov government CIA director Leon Panetta visits Romania Germany: BND spy jailed for passing secrets to gay Balkan lover Germany: Russia, China engaging in industrial espionage
India: German national arrested in Punjab was on a spying mission, claims police 22. Iran “breaks world record” for intelligence and security related work 23. South Korea: Army general accused of spying for N Korea 23. North Korean female spy arrested 22.
Tradecraft 24. Al Qaida’s mother of all spy manuals
26. Must read: UN compilation of good practices on legal and institutional frameworks & measures that ensure respect of human rights by Intel agencies while countering terrorism
From the editor The upcoming Soccer World Cup here in SA has created more than enough press coverage on the possibility of a terrorist attack, with intelligence officers from the world descending on our country. Godspeed to all those working to ensure a safe event… The consequences of the Israeli attack on the Gaza aid flotilla this week will reverberate in the security and intelligence realm in the weeks to come… As was expected, Pres Obama of the US announced James Clapper as the new DNI on Saturday. In a further development in the US, there is more focus on the CIA’s drone war against terrorists. In Europe, spying activities of Russia and China concerns more countries, while North/South Korea espionage will raise tensions there further. Dalene Duvenage On a lighter note… the pigeon spy…. AFP: Indian police are holding a pigeon under armed guard after it was caught on an alleged spying mission for arch rivals and neighbours Pakistan, media reported on 28 May 2010. The whitecoloured bird was found by a local resident in India's Punjab state, which borders Pakistan, and taken to a police station 40 kilometres (25 miles) from the capital Amritsar. The pigeon had a ring around its foot and a Pakistani phone number and address stamped on its body in red ink. Police officer Ramdas Jagjit Singh Chahal told the Press Trust of India (PTI) news agency that they suspected the pigeon may have landed on Indian soil from Pakistan with a message, although no trace of a note has been found. Officials have directed that noone should be allowed to visit the pigeon, which police say may have been on a "special mission of spying". The bird has been medically examined and was being kept in an air-conditioned room under police guard. Senior officers have asked to be kept updated on the situation three times a day, PTI said. Chahal said local pigeon fanciers in the sensitive border area had told police that Pakistani pigeons were easily identifiable as they look different from Indian ones, according to the Indian Express newspaper. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gyVMMB4 pLuM0z1ObN1JOsV5CxENw
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Africa The size of the BP oil spill in South African context ‌.
http://www.ifitwasmyhome.com
Uganda: Army gets intelligence training school Tuesday, 1st June, 2010 By Hope Mafaranga
Muhoti barracks in Kabarole district has been turned into a national intelligence training school. The chief of defence forces, Gen. Aronda Nyakairima, said the rehabilitation of the barracks is expected to be completed before the end of the year to enable officers start training. He added that after the renovation, Muhoti will be the leading intelligence training school in East Africa. A total of sh1.2b has been spent in the first rehabilitation phase and http://www.newvision.co.ug/D/8/18/721488
sh1b more will be spent in the second phase, according to Lt Col Besigye Bakunda, the deputy commander of the engineers brigade. Additional structures at the complex include a hospital, a commandant residential house, offices, lecture rooms and staff quarters. Nyakairima explained that the army took long to renovate most of the army barracks because priority had been to provide peace and security rather than building barracks and improving the welfare of the soldiers.
Paper: Africa’s Irregular Security Threats: Challenges for U.S. Engagement by Andre Le Sage, Institute for National Strategic Studies, National Defense University (Ed: excerpted)
Engaging African states as reliable partners to confront irregular security challenges will be a
complex process requiring a three-pronged strategy. First, there must be substantial,
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sustained, and continent-wide investment in capacity-building for intelligence, law enforcement, military, prosecutorial, judicial, and penal systems, not to mention their parliamentary, media, and civil society counterparts. Second, until such African capabilities come online and are properly utilized by political leaders, the United States and other foreign partners will need to deploy more of their own intelligence, law enforcement, and special operations personnel to Africa to address terrorist and criminal dynamics that pose a direct and immediate threat to U.S. strategic interests. Third, further efforts are required to harden the political will of African leaders to actually deploy their maturing security sector capabilities in an aggressive manner that abides by the rule of law. Intelligence collection and analysis capabilities must be addressed as an additional challenge. First, by their very nature, the threats discussed above are difficult targets for both African and international security services to understand and disrupt. Intelligence collection focused on national and regional threats needs to be increased across the board. Second, as in militaries and police forces, intelligence services must diversify. Today they are often staffed by ethnic groups associated with dominant tribes and clans while terrorist and criminal threats frequently emerge in areas peripheral to state interests and among eth-
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nic groups that have been marginalized in national politics and civil service employment. In response, African intelligence services simply need to ensure that their pool of human resources is diversified in order to penetrate the illicit networks of other groups. Third, African governments should build new capabilities to leverage financial intelligence and open source reporting. In combination with extended surveillance coverage across Africa’s maritime and air domains, the governments can then clamp down on transnational trafficking, commodity smuggling, and the illegal movement of persons, including both illegal immigration and terrorist foreign fighter flows. National interagency coordination needs support by African governments. Domestic initiatives are required to eliminate stovepipes that hamper information-sharing and to initiate combined operations to confront multisectoral threats that go beyond the remit of any single ministry. Some countries have created dedicated national counterterrorism centers or “fusion centers” to collate intelligence and deconflict operational responses. Others have expanded participation in their senior-level national security councils to better integrate police, gendarmerie, military, intelligence, and border security efforts. These efforts need continued international encouragement and support as governments attempt to overcome years of factionalism and bureaucratic rivalry within the continent’s security systems.
http://www.ndu.edu/inss/docUploaded/SF255_LeSage.pdf
African Security-Intelligence experts meet in Brazzaville The seventh conference of the Committee on Intelligence and Security Services in Africa (CISSA) began Tuesday in the Congolese capital, Brazzaville, with the theme "Working together for peace and security in Africa through active intelligence". According to the agenda, the meeting is seeking to establish guidelines for CISSA's PANA, Brazzaville, Congo, 2 June 2010 -
Editor: Dalene Duvenage
general policy, assign tasks and receive reports and recommendations from the Secretary General and deliberate on the issues that were submitted by the Security Council of the African Union. "The search for stability and sustainable development is nowadays a major constraint for our respective states. But this noble objective could be achieved only if the
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various institutions committed to the pursuit African body that reflects the will of the of peace and security in Africa work in heads of state and government to promote synergy," Congolese Minister of the Interior cooperation to ensure a collective security in and Decentralization, Raymond ZĂŠphirin African countries. Mboulou, said at the opening session It aims at coordinating strategies to of the conference. facilitate the interaction between Due to the number of challenges the intelligence services on common facing the continent in 2010, including security threats, developing the celebration of the 50th measures that enhance confidence anniversary of independence in between intelligence and security certain African countries, the World services; providing the AU Peace and Cup in South Africa and many other Security Council with data and events, CISSA experts said that collaboration information necessary for the adoption of was a prerequisite for successfully tackling instruments for an African policy and strategy potential threats in Africa. to maintain peace as well as prevent conflicts. Created 26 April, 2004, in Abuja, Nigeria, at the initiative of 43 states, CISSA is a panhttp://www.afriquejet.com/news/africa-news/african-security-intelligence-experts-meet-inbrazzaville-2010060350335.html
Zimbabwe: Gov Spied On Diamond Monitor — The Kimberley Process Certification Scheme (KPCS) monitor, Abbey Chikane last week made sensational revelations about how state security agents managed to open his bag without his consent and photocopy some correspondencies, which were later publicised through the state media. Halfway through his visit which ended on Friday, Chikane came under fire from government officials through the state media where he was accused of working under instructions from the United States government. The unnamed sources said on the basis of the emails, it would be difficult for Chikane to present findings that would favour Zimbabwe. Chikane told journalists in Harare on Wednesday that when he came into the country, "some naughty intelligent person" opened his bag and photocopied some printouts of his emails. Details of the emails went on to be published and broadcast in The Herald and ZTV, respectively. Senior 29 May 2010, Harare (Ed: excerpted)
government officials, including President Robert Mugabe, have since spoken strongly against the KPCS, on the basis of those emails. "In this particular case, what happened is that I had copies of emails in my bag," said Chikane, shortly after meeting members of the Parliamentary Portfolio Committee on Mines and Energy. "The emails were photocopied by someone. They (the people who photocopied the emails) basically copied and pasted the content from different email messages. "These are messages from different countries -- Canada, the European Union, and even some African countries. . . "But I think some naughty intelligent person decided to photocopy and make use of the emails," said Chikane. It could not be established who could have opened Chikane's bag, or whether he had found the bag's contents still intact afterwards. Chikane said there was no way he could be influenced by one country when the KPCS comprises 75 different countries.
http://allafrica.com/stories/201005310278.html
Editor: Dalene Duvenage
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South Africa: Revised Bill Keeps Harsh Penalties for Information Peddling
been to distort the "national threat picture", and it was a threat to national security and Cape Town — The controversial Protection of endangered SA's democracy. Information Bill has returned to Parliament with much of its draconian provisions intact Mr Cwele said the threat was real and "it is and with clauses that will criminalise not our imagination". "information peddling". Democratic Alliance MP David Maynier asked The original version of the bill was withdrawn the minister why, if there was evidence of in 2008 after substantial criticism from civil information peddlers in action, they were not society for being vague, unconstitutional and simply arrested for related crimes such as harsh. There were complaints that the illegal surveillance and interception bill would deal a blow to the freedom instead of creating a new crime of the press and halt any form of category. He also asked how, if they investigative journalism. could be identified, their work was able to distort the national intelligence The now infamous Browse Mole estimate? report, which claimed that members of the African National Congress The bill proposes that espionage, supporting President Jacob Zuma which is to "unlawfully communicate, Min Cwele were working with Angola and Libya in a deliver or make available state plot to unseat then president Thabo Mbeki, information classified as top secret, secret or has been labelled as the work of information confidential, which such a person knows or peddlers intent on destabilising the country. ought reasonably to have known or suspected will directly benefit another state", is State Security Minister Siyabonga Cwele punishable with imprisonment of not less yesterday, after a vigorous argument over than 15 years and not more than 25 years. whether or not he should brief Parliament in secret, allowed the State Security Agency to Hostile activity offences which involve the brief the ad hoc committee on the bill. While communication of top secret, secret or the briefing was in open committee Mr Cwele confidential information that will "directly or refused to supply MPs or the press with indirectly prejudice the state" are punishable written copies of the submission. with similar sentences. The committee was told that information Also punishable with lengthy jail terms will be peddlers had originated in apartheid security the "harbouring or concealing" of persons structures such as the Civil Co-operation involved in espionage, the interception of or Bureau, Vlakplaas, the National Intelligence interference with classified information and Service (covert collections) and former failure to register as an intelligence agent if Rhodesian intelligence. from abroad. It was said that the Special Browse Mole The public has been invited to comment on report was a product of these people which the bill. The closing date is June 25 2010. had been believed by the now disbanded Scorpions. The intention of the report had http://allafrica.com/stories/201006020127.html Wyndham Hartley, 2 June 2010
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Middle East Mossad chief: Israel less important to US Ronen Medzini, Yetnews, 1 June 2010
Dagan said that such a solution has already Mossad chief Meir Dagan is concerned by the arisen between Israel and the US, but then change in US positions and influence on disappeared. "But we must take future steps Israel. "There are fewer Israeli assets in the into account, particularly after the mid-term US," he said in the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Congress elections," he warned. "An imposed Defense Committee meeting on Tuesday. solution will be a last option and not the "Israel's importance was greater when there preferred option – but this option exists and was conflict between the blocs, while this is used as a whip to goad the two sides. year there has been a decrease (in Israel's Events such as (the lethal flotilla affair) are importance)." likely to go out of control and the Dagan gave an overview of the situation could deteriorate to situation to MKs and noted, "If in the extreme scenarios." 90s the US was a 'global policeman,' a Dagan also referred to the Iranian power that could solve conflicts, in nuclear threat. "Iran's willingness to the first decade of the millennium the agree to the Brazil and Turkey deal US's power to solve conflicts is (to transfer uranium for enrichment) limited. The election of (US President is like pulling a rabbit out of a hat, Barack) Obama was a declaration that it Dagan was adopting a softer approach and did Photo: Gil Yohanan intended to divide the international community at the last minute, with not want to use force to solve conflicts. the aim of avoiding or postponing sanctions It has been viewed as weakness and in the UN Security Council." influences Israel's difficulty in diplomatic The Mossad chief noted that the Congress maneuvers." elections in July will influence the Iran According to Dagan, the US ability to create decision. processes of change is limited. "It is possible "Iran is progressing with the latest to see that during the last few years there has centrifuges, but are encountering unexpected been less cooperation in the political arena technological difficulties," he said. "They are between Israel and the US," he said. "The not progressing as they would like, and this current administration certainly thinks that certainly influences the length of time Israel's handling of the Palestinian issue does required to achieve their aim." He added, not suit the present US approach, which says "Achieving their aim of nuclear capabilities the solution to the conflict must be according will prevent any future threat against the to the Clinton vision, within the 67 borders." regime." Answering a question about the possibility of an imposed solution, raised by rightwing MKs, http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3897456,00.html
Former Mossad agent ridicules Gaza ship raid Jeff Stein, Spyblog, Washington Post June 3, 2010 (Ed: excerpted)
The Israeli commando attack on a civilian flotilla was “so stupid it is stupefying,” says former Mossad agent Victor Ostrovsky. Ostrovsky spent six years in the Israeli navy, rising to the rank of lieutenant commander before Mossad recruited him in 1982. He quit Editor: Dalene Duvenage
after four years and in the 1990s he wrote two highly critical, first-person books about the intelligence service. Monday’s raid on a seaborne civilian aid mission to Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which left nine dead and about 75 wounded,
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was carried out by the Israeli navy’s commando unit, “Shayetet 13,” Ostrovsky said. "It's a fantastic unit. ... It was not typical of Flotilla 13,” he said, using the English translation for Shayetet, which he called “one of the top units in the Israeli military.” Members of the unit “have trained extensively for overtaking a ship," he said. "However, their training was directed at overtaking a hijacked ship.” Evidently the tactics weren't adjusted for this mission. "Mossad probably had more than one man on board" the ships, Ostrovsky said, secret agents who would have been giving Israeli mission planners an accurate picture of what was happening on the vessels. “The mistakes were on every level,” said Ostrovsky, “from the order to forcefully board outside the territorial waters to the actual attack.” Responsibility for the raid, which has provoked widespread condemnation and a diplomatic uproar, should be laid at the feet of “the shoot-fromthe-hip prime minister,” Ostrovsky said -Binyamin Netanyahu, whom he blamed for two previous messy intelligence operations in Dubai and Jordan. Flotilla 13’s typically careful planning, he speculated, was supplanted by orders from Netanyahu or his ultra-conservative foreign minister, Avigdor Lieberman, to “do something now.” Ostrovsky, who developed missile capabilities for Israeli gunboats, said there were several, far safer, alternatives to sending black-clad commandos rappelling onto the ship from frightfully noisy helicopters in the middle of the night. The commandos could have easily sneaked up to the ships and boats from behind in “wet submarines” (which look like open torpedoes) and disabled their propellers, he said.
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http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spytalk/2010/06/former_mossad_agent_ridicules.html? wprss=spy-talk Jeff Stein, June 3, 2010, Washington Post (ed: excerpted)
A second Israeli special operations veteran has denounced his government’s handling of the boarding operation in international waters off Gaza. Mike Eldar spent two decades in the Israeli navy, which included the command of an amphibious special missions unit, Shayetet 11, during the 1982 invasion of Lebanon. He later wrote books about that and another elite unit, Shayetet 13, the same navy commandos sent to intercept the aid mission Monday night. “I cannot explain it,” he said by phone from Israel. “The only explanation is stupidity, super egos.” “Mossad should have certainly had agents aboard the ships,” he said, to advise the commandos on how to proceed, “but if they did, then how can we explain this fiasco?” But Eldar, 64, rejected Ostrovsky’s view that the botched operation, which resulted in scores of civilian casualties and nine dead, including an American citizen of Turkish origin, was rushed to accommodate orders from Israel's civilian leadership. “It was not a rush job,” said Eldar, who was also involved in the navy's clandestine “Ghost Winds” sabotage raids against Palestinian ships during his career. “They had at least two weeks to prepare, with lots of practice. It was not a hasty attack.” “They have other systems. I don’t know why they didn’t use them,” he said. http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spytalk/2010/06/israeli_special_missions_veter.html?wp rss=spy-talk
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Yemen sentences 'Iranian spies' to death May 25, 2010, UPI
SANAA, Yemen- A Yemeni court upheld a verdict Tuesday against two individuals accused of spying on Yemen for Iran, sentencing them to death. Two members of an alleged Iranian spy cell were sentenced to death and a third was acquitted by a penal court. The two alleged spies were convicted of passing sensitive Yemeni information on the defense, security and economic conditions in the country to Iranians, the official Saba news agency reports. The Yemeni government of President Ali Abdullah Saleh accused the Iranians of arming
the Shiite Houthi rebel group, which fought Saleh's forces to a standstill last year in the mountains of Saada province along the border with Saudi Arabia. Yemen is predominantly Sunni Muslim. The rebellion began in 2004 but intensified sharply in August, when Saleh launched an all-out offensive dubbed Operation Scorched Earth against the Shiite tribesmen. Tehran denied the charges. Iran state-run media last year quoted Abdel Karim al-Ariani, a Yemeni presidential adviser, as saying Tehran "plays no role" in the violence plaguing Yemen.
http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/05/25/Yemen-sentences-Iranian-spies-to-death/UPI76541274799311/
America Obama wants quick OK of choice for spy chief Sunday, June 6, 2010 , The New York Times lieutenant to Defense Secretary Robert Gates. WASHINGTON - President Barack Obama He is a 69-year-old Vietnam War veteran who urged the Senate to quickly confirm his new rose from the position of signal intelligence pick for director of national intelligence, Lt. officer to undersecretary of defense for Gen. James R. Clapper Jr. intelligence. Clapper's nomination as the next Obama asked that the retired Air director of national intelligence Force general's nomination not came just two weeks after become hostage to Washington Obama forced Adm. Dennis politics. Blair out of the spymaster job. "He has a quality I prize among all The selection is an attempt by my advisers - an ability to tell me the president to recalibrate an what we need to know, as opposed intelligence structure that has to just what we want to hear," undergone revamping since the Obama said yesterday, standing intelligence failures leading up next to Clapper in the Rose Garden to the Iraq war, yet by most to announce his selection. accounts still lacks the cohesion "Mr. Obama," said Clapper, Obama and Clapper needed to deal with evolving "understands the importance of (Photo: AP) terrorist threats. working with our partners in If confirmed by the Senate, Clapper will be Congress." the fourth official since 2005 to oversee 16 Clapper has a long history in Washington; he intelligence agencies - a job that many clashed with Defense Secretary Donald intelligence officials have said is a Rumsfeld and was pushed out of office as a bureaucratic nightmare. result, only to return to the Pentagon as a top
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http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2010/06/06/copy/obama-wants-quickok-of-choice-for-spy-chief.html?sid=101
Criticism against Clapper Bond, said he has reservations about Clapper. "I believe he is too focused on the Defense Some political observers have indicated that Department issues and he has tried to block Clapper's prospects for confirmation on out efforts to give more authority to the DNI," Capitol Hill, however, are questionable. Bond said. California Sen. Dianne Feinstein, the Bond's counterpart on the House side, Rep. Democratic head of the Senate Intelligence Pete Hoekstra, R-Michigan, also said he Committe, recently said the "best thing for believes Clapper is the wrong person, the U.S. intelligence community is to have because he is "not forthcoming, open or someone with a civilian background in transparent" with Congress. charge." The ranking Republican on the Intelligence Committe, Missouri Sen. Kit http://www.cnn.com/2010/US/06/04/obama.dni.director/index.html?hpt=T2 CNN Wire Staff, June 5, 2010 (ed – excerpted)
National Security Advisor Describes New Strategy Jim Garamone, American Forces Press Service (Ed: excerpted)
Marine Corps general said. “In addition, the WASHINGTON, May 28, 2010 – The new U.S. international architecture of the 20th National Security Strategy is one of renewal century, designed for another time, is and global leadership that advances U.S. buckling under the weight of these new interests by building the sources of American threats. As a consequence, it has been strength and influence and shaping a more difficult to forge the cooperative approaches peaceful and more prosperous world, necessary to prevent states from flouting President Barack Obama’s national security international norms and agreements.” advisor said yesterday. The United States must be strong “This is a time of sweeping change,” economically to be a power James L. Jones Jr said. “Two decades internationally, Jones said, and part of since the end of the Cold War, the free the strategy recognizes the importance flow of information, people and trade of economics and growth. “American continues to accelerate at an innovation must be the foundation of unprecedented pace. Events far beyond American power,” he said, “because at our nation's shores now impact our Jones no time in human history has a nation of safety, our security and prosperity, and diminished economic vitality maintained its that of our allies and friends alike, in ways military and political primacy.” that we could not have imagined just a few years ago.” This globalization of information Engaging with allies and friends is key to the and goods promises great benefits, Jones strategy, Jones noted, adding that Obama has said, but it also can be used against the stressed that no one nation can solve the United States. problems of the world. “We will pursue comprehensive engagement around the “This interconnection also comes with the world,” Jones said. “We will strengthen old perils of global challenges that do not respect alliances, we will build new partnerships with borders: global networks of terrorists and emerging centers of influence in every region, criminals, threats in space and cyberspace, a and we will push for institutions that are degrading climate and technologies with increasing destructive power,” the retired
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more capable of responding to the challenges disrupt, dismantle and defeat al-Qaida and its of our time.” extremist affiliates in Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere in the world and to stop the The strategy calls for a “whole-ofspread of weapons of mass destruction and government” approach to security strategy. secure vulnerable nuclear materials. “Our diplomacy and development capabilities must be modernized, and our civilian The U.S. government must come up with a expeditionary capacity strengthened, to strategy “to secure and protect against the support the full breadth of our priorities,” full range of threats and hazards to our Jones said. “And our intelligence and communities and to enhance our resilience as homeland-security efforts must be integrated a nation,” Jones said. The greater Middle East with our national-security priorities and those remains a flashpoint, he added, and the of our allies, our friends and our partners.” United States will remain actively involved in finding the paths to peace in the region. The strategy has a number of detailed goals, Jones said. The first is to end the war in Iraq Jones also said the strategy also looks to through a responsible transition to Iraqi protect and secure cyberspace while government. “That is on track,” he said. safeguarding privacy and civil liberties. Overall, he continued, the strategy seeks to http://www.defense.gov//News/NewsArticle.aspx?ID=59384 Read the Strategy document here
UN criticism not likely to stop CIA drone strikes By LOLITA C. BALDOR and FRANK JORDANS (AP) 2 June 2010 (Ed: excerpted)
WASHINGTON — The U.S. government's covert program using unmanned drones to strike at terrorists inside Pakistan is not likely to stop or change, despite new criticism from a U.N. human rights expert. U.S. officials insist the CIA program has been an effective tool to take out insurgents along the Afghanistan-Pakistan border, particularly those hidden beyond the reach of the military. The stepped-up use of drones over the past year has shown no signs of slowing down and was credited earlier this week with the killing inside Pakistan of al-Qaida's third in command. The program, which officials say has killed hundreds of insurgents in dozens of strikes over the past year, has been condemned by critics who say it may constitute illegal assassinations and violate international law. They argue that intelligence officers conducting the strikes could be at risk of prosecution for murder in foreign countries.
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In a 29-page report released Wednesday, Philip Alston, the independent U.N. investigator on extrajudicial killings, called on countries to lay out rules and safeguards for carrying out the strikes, publish figures on civilian casualties and prove they have attempted to capture or incapacitate suspects without killing them. "Unlike a state's armed forces, its intelligence agents do not generally operate within a framework which places appropriate emphasis upon ensuring compliance with international humanitarian law, rendering violations more likely and causing a higher risk of prosecution both for war crimes and for violations of the laws of the state in which any killing occurs," wrote Alston, a New York University professor. The report to the U.N. Human Rights Council puts unwanted scrutiny on the intelligence operations of the United States, Israel and Russia, who Alston says are all credibly reported to have used drones to kill alleged terrorists and insurgents. He said the drone
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strikes by intelligence agencies launched in ingraining a video game mentality about war Afghanistan, Pakistan and elsewhere are and can never be as accurate as eyewitness particularly fraught because of the secrecy confirmation of targets from the ground. surrounding them. "The point is that innocent people have been Other experts disagree. "Drone operations killed, this has been proved over and over are essential," said Bruce Riedel, a former CIA again," said Louise Doswald-Beck, a professor officer and a senior fellow at the Brookings of international law at the Geneva Graduate Institution Saban Center. "The drones are Institute in Switzerland. "If you don't have part of a much broader effort to put pressure enough personnel on the ground, the chances on al-Qaida through the war in Afghanistan. of your having false information is actually They're the cutting edge of the pressure, but quite huge," she told The Associated Press. they're not the only pressure." Among the most sensitive recommendations Earlier this week, al-Qaida leaders confirmed in Alston's report is that governments should that a drone strike in Pakistan had killed the disclose "the measures in place to provide terror group's No. 3 officer and top prompt, thorough, effective, independent commander in Afghanistan, Mustafa al-Yazid. and public investigations of alleged violations of law." Doing so would almost certainly blow "Without discussing or confirming any specific open the lid on all manner of secret action or program, this agency's operations counterterror operations. unfold within a framework of law and close government oversight," said CIA spokesman The report also warns that CIA personnel George Little. "The accountability's real, and could be extradited to those countries where it would be wrong for anyone to suggest the targeted killing takes place and wouldn't otherwise." have the same immunity from prosecution as regular soldiers. Alston claims more than 40 In describing the decision-making process, countries now have drone technology, with the official said the strikes are launched only several seeking to equip them with lethal when a vetted target comes into clear view, weapons. and that — much like the military — intelligence officers take into account the Doswald-Beck said the next step could be the principles of necessity, the need for a development of fully autonomous drones and carefully weighed response and the battlefield robots programed to identify and obligation to minimize innocent civilian kill enemy fighters — but without human casualties. controllers to ensure targets are legitimate. "If that's the case you've got a major This view has been challenged by human problem," she said. rights groups and independent observers, who say remotely operated drones risk http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5gxRuWBN2oKfuAdLTeQs11bWhHrOAD9G 3DLPO0
U.S. Intelligence Analyst Arrested in Wikileaks Video Probe By Kevin Poulsen and Kim Zetter, Wired.com, June 6, 2010 (Ed: excerpted)
Federal officials have arrested an Army intelligence analyst who boasted of giving classified U.S. combat video and hundreds of thousands of classified State Department records to whistleblower site Wikileaks, Wired.com has learned.
Editor: Dalene Duvenage
SPC Bradley Manning, 22, of Potomac, Maryland, was stationed at Forward Operating Base Hammer, 40 miles east of Baghdad, where he was arrested nearly two weeks ago by the Army’s Criminal Investigation Division. A family member says
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hacker Adrian Lamo late last month over he’s being held in custody in Kuwait, and has instant messenger and e-mail. Lamo had just not been formally charged. been the subject of a Wired.com article. Manning was turned in late last month by a Very quickly in his exchange with the exformer computer hacker with whom he spoke hacker, Manning claimed to be the Wikileaks online. In the course of their chats, Manning video leaker. took credit for leaking a headline“If you had unprecedented access to making video of a helicopter attack classified networks 14 hours a day 7 days a that Wikileaks posted online in April. The week for 8+ months, what would you do?” video showed a deadly 2007 U.S. helicopter Manning asked. From the chat logs provided air strike in Baghdad that claimed the lives of by Lamo, and examined by Wired.com, it several innocent civilians. appears Manning sensed a kindred spirit in He said he also leaked three other items to the ex-hacker. He discussed personal issues Wikileaks: a separate video showing the that got him into trouble with his superiors notorious 2009 Garani air strike in and left him socially isolated, and said he had Afghanistan that Wikileaks has previously been demoted and was headed for an early acknowledged is in its possession; a classified discharge from the Army. Army document evaluating Wikileaks as a When Manning told Lamo that he leaked a security threat, which the site posted in quarter-million classified embassy cables, March; and a previously unreported breach Lamo contacted the Army, and then consisting of 260,000 classified met with Army CID investigators and U.S. diplomatic cables that Manning the FBI at a Starbucks near his house described as exposing “almost in Carmichael, California, where he criminal political back dealings.” passed the agents a copy of the chat “Hillary Clinton, and several logs. At their second meeting with thousand diplomats around the Lamo on May 27, FBI agents from the world are going to have a heart Oakland Field Office told the hacker attack when they wake up one that Manning had been arrested the morning, and find an entire day before in Iraq by Army CID repository of classified foreign policy investigators. is available, in searchable format, to Lamo has contributed funds to the public,” Manning wrote. Manning Wikileaks in the past, and says he Manning’s arrest comes as Wikileaks has agonized over the decision to expose ratcheted up pressure against various Manning — he says he’s frequently contacted governments over the years with by hackers who want to talk about their embarrassing documents acquired through a adventures, and he’s never considered global whistleblower network that is reporting anyone before. The supposed seemingly impervious to threats from diplomatic cable leak, however, made him adversaries. Its operations are hosted on believe Manning’s actions were genuinely servers in several countries, and it uses highdangerous to U.S. national security. level encryption for its document submission process, providing secure anonymity for its “I wouldn’t have done this if lives weren’t in sources and a safe haven from legal danger,” says Lamo, who discussed the repercussions for itself. Since its launch in details with Wired.com following Manning’s 2006, it has never outed a source through its arrest. “He was in a war zone and basically own actions, either voluntarily or trying to vacuum up as much classified involuntarily. information as he could, and just throwing it up into the air.” Manning came to the attention of the FBI and Army investigators after he contacted former Editor: Dalene Duvenage
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As described by Manning in his chats with music on a CD-RW labeled with something Lamo, his purported leaking was made like ‘Lady Gaga’, erase the music then write a possible by lax security online and off. compressed split file,” he wrote. “No one Manning had access to two classified suspected a thing and, odds are, they never networks from two separate secured laptops: will.” SIPRNET, the Secret-level network used by “[I] listened and lip-synced to Lady Gaga’s the Department of Defense and the State ‘Telephone’ while exfiltrating possibly the Department, and the Joint Worldwide largest data spillage in American history,” he Intelligence Communications System which added later. ”Weak servers, weak logging, serves both agencies at the Top weak physical security, weak counterSecret/SCI level. intelligence, inattentive signal analysis… a The networks, he said, were both “air perfect storm.” gapped” from unclassified networks, but the environment at the base made it easy to smuggle data out. “I would come in with Read More http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/leak/#ixzz0qA3oKn9x http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/06/leak/
State Dept. loses round in CIA cover case By Jeff Stein, June 4, 2010, Washington Post (Ed: excerpted)
CIA and three former CIA officials. Urbina A federal judge lent a hand Friday to a former dismissed the State Department’s argument CIA operative who is trying to force the State that DeSousa’s case was “futile.” Department to defend her against an Italian In late Dec. 2009, De Sousa filed papers conviction for kidnapping. Sabrina saying three former CIA officials shared De Sousa was listed as a diplomat at blame for her plight because of their the U.S. Consulate in Milan when a sloppy security practices: Jeffrey Castelli, CIA counter terrorism team picked the spy agency's Rome station chief in up Hassan Mustafa Osama Nasr, a 2003, Robert Seldon Lady, its Milan base radical Egyptian imam also known as chief, and Susan Czaska, listed as a Abu Omar, and whisked him off to Sabrina de Sousa "consulate official" in Milan. Egypt for interrogation. Castelli did not respond to a request for De Sousa participated in the scheme as a CIA comment at the time. Lady and Czaska could employee, according to Italian prosecutors not be located. All three have left the CIA. and a Milan court, which convicted her and 22 other Americans, all but one CIA Urbina’s decision “brings together all the operatives, on kidnapping charges last year. alleged and actual elements of the They were convicted in absentia and remain government that were involved in this,” said free, although they risk arrest on Europol one of her attorneys, Bradley P. Moss of the warrants if they travel outside the U.S. Washington law firm Mark Zaid P.C. “These are the people who destroyed her career.“ De Sousa had to defend herself at her own expense until she sued the Justice "The lawsuit is designed to force the State Department for support. She is now suing the Department to provide the protection Sabrina State Department for diplomatic immunity. In was deprived of when it failed to invoke his ruling Friday, U.S. District Court Judge diplomatic immunity for her when she was Ricardo M. Urbina granted De Sousa’s motion charged (and later convicted) in the Abu to widen her complaint beyond the State Omar case," Zaid last December. Department to the Department of Justice, the Editor: Dalene Duvenage
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http://blog.washingtonpost.com/spytalk/2010/06/state_dept_loses_round_in_cia.html?wprss=spy-talk
House Approves GAO Role in Intelligence Oversight June 1st, 2010 by Steven Aftergood
would risk a veto of the defense bill by the The House of Representatives last week Obama White House, and could undermine approved an amendment to the 2010 the Director of National Intelligence. Rep. Defense Authorization Act that would require Edolphus Towns (D-NY) spoke in favor of the the Director of National Intelligence to amendment, but he expressed concern that it cooperate with the Government permitted only the intelligence committees to Accountability Office in the performance of task the GAO to perform oversight of an audits and investigations that are requested intelligence program or activity. He said that by the congressional intelligence committees. any committee with relevant jurisdiction The House voted 218-210 in favor of the should be able to do the same. measure, which was sponsored by Rep. Anna The May 27 floor debate and vote on the Eshoo and several colleagues. Eshoo amendment may be found here. Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-TX) spoke in opposition to the amendment, which he said http://www.fas.org/blog/secrecy/2010/06/gao_intel_over.html
Europe Turkey appoints top spy as security threats shift Fri May 28, 2010, Reuters (Ed: excerpted)
ANKARA- Turkey has named a foreign policy expert with close knowledge of Iran as its new top spy, as the country linking Europe with the Middle East adapts its security priorities to deal with external threats. Hakan Fidan's appointment this week as head of the National Intelligence Organization (MIT) Fidan reflects a shift in focus from domestic issues such as Kurdish separatism to transnational threats such as al Qaeda and nuclear proliferation. Sources said Fidan, 42, who has worked as MIT deputy undersecretary and as a foreign policy adviser to Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, has played a busy though little-publicized role in Ankara's mediation efforts between the West and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program, accompanying Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Tehran during many of his visits. Considered an expert on Central Asia and the Middle East, Fidan advocated in his doctoral
thesis the need to create two separate bodies to deal with domestic and foreign intelligence. "He is somebody Erdogan trusts to reorganize the MIT," Murat Yetkin, Ankara bureau chief for Radikal daily, told Reuters. Created in 1965, the MIT is in charge of gathering intelligence from internal and external sources. Speaking to reporters earlier this week, Erdogan said he wanted it to "become more active in foreign intelligence." Fidan is the fourth civilian to head the MIT, which until the 1990s was controlled by the armed forces. But observers say his appointment has been met with opposition from the military, which regards him as too close to the Islamist-leaning AK Party and sees his promotion as politically motivated. The military, which considers itself as the guardian of the country's secular principles, has removed four governments since 1960, most of them for perceived Islamic
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tendencies. Erdogan's AK Party, which has its with the military, which has seen its influence roots in political Islam, has clashed in the past pared back by EU-driven reforms. http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE64R3GM20100528
Turkey’s MIT’s new model: the CIA 28 May 2010, Sabah With the appointment of Hakan Fidan as the new head of the National Intelligence Agency (MIT), the bureau will now increasingly concentrate on international intelligence. Turkey’s National Intelligence Agency is gearing towards adapting an intelligence model followed by both the CIA and the FBI. Along with the recent appointment of Hakan FIdan as the new MIT Undersecretary, the agency is expected to place further importance on foreign intelligence. The central focus of intelligence will be concentrated on the regions of conflict surrounding Turkey, including the Middle East, the Caucuses and the Balkans. While commenting on Hakan Fidan's recent appointment, Prime Minister Tayyip Erdoğan also pointed out the agency’s objective by stating; “The National Intelligence Agency’s primary duty is dealing with foreign
intelligence. Our new undersecretary will be continuing the bureau’s efforts to that effect.” According to information obtained by SABAH, with Hakan Fidan's appointment as Undersecretary to MİT, further steps will now be taken on an ongoing project entitled “New Vision.” According to the personnel and technical infrastructure project, which has been ongoing for the past three years, MIT will focus on international intelligence. National intelligence will be gradually handed over to the police department and the gendarmerie. The National Intelligence Agency’s strategy over the past two years of learning the region’s languages will now be taken to a new level. Education will be focused on languages including Arabic, Serbian, Armenian, Georgian, Persian, Hebrew, Greek, Bulgarian, Russian, Albanian and Bosnian.
http://www.sabahenglish.com/general/9999.html
UK: Ex-spy chief reviews 2012 security
security planning - that is as much about procedure as build. Former spy chief Dame Pauline Neville-Jones is carrying out a review of security for the "The top priority of a new government is the 2012 London Games, Sports and Olympic security of its people. Nothing will be done Minister Hugh Robertson has that will put security at risk. Nothing will announced. The fact that Dame Pauline, be done that imperils the delivery of a a former chairman of the Joint safe and secure Olympic Games." Intelligence Committee, has been asked Dame Pauline is looking at safety plans to lead the Home Office security review for athletes and spectators and "the shows "just how serious" an issue preparedness of this city to the deliver Olympics safety is for the Government, the most successful Games". No date Mr Robertson said. He said: "The new Neville-Jones has been set for when her findings will Government regards this (the London be published. Between 1993 and 1994 Dame 2012 Games) as a top priority. The Home Pauline was chairman of the Joint Intelligence Office has announced they will review May 27 2010
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Committee which oversees the work of MI5 Conservative Party's National and and MI6. International Security Policy Group. In January 2006 Prime Minister David She became the shadow security minister and Cameron, who was then the leader of the national security adviser in July 2007. Opposition, appointed her to head the http://www.coventrytelegraph.net/news/national-news/2010/05/27/ex-spy-chief-reviews-2012security-92746-26537055/
Ukraine ends counterintelligence work on Russian FSB officials - paper KIEV, May 29, RIA Novosti.
Ukrainian counterintelligence services have stopped monitoring Russian Security Service (FSB) officials stationed in Ukraine, a Ukrainian weekly paper said on Saturday. Relations between Russia and Ukraine have dramatically improved since President Viktor Yanukovych was elected in February on a platform to roll back the pro-Western policies of his predecessor, Viktor Yushchenko, and heal damaged ties with Moscow. "As a gesture of goodwill and to demonstrate new policies, the counterintelligence department http://en.rian.ru/world/20100529/159209138.html
ended all work on Russian security services in Ukraine," Zerkalo Nedeli said. The Ukrainian security services have so far not made an official comment on this report. A cooperation agreement was signed by the heads of the Ukrainian and Russian Security Services on May 19. The agreement includes a decision to return Russian security service officials to Crimea, where Russia has a naval base. The Russian security services were ordered to leave the territory at the end of 2009.
French Secret Service Fear Russian Cathedral A Spying Front May 27th, 2010 morrisonworldnews.com
The French secret service has reportedly expressed alarm over plans for a Russian Orthodox cathedral in Paris, fearing it will be used by Moscow as a front for spies. The goahead for the onion-domed cathedral – the first to be built in the French capital in more than a century – by the Eiffel Tower was considered a brilliant diplomatic coup in Russia as at least two other countries were vying for the prized property by the Seine. But it sparked deep reservations at the Quai d’Orsay, France’s foreign ministry, and the DCRI, its MI6 or CIA, because the building is a stone’s throw from a sensitive diplomatic compound. As well as housing France’s supreme magistrates’ council, the Palais de l’Alma – Napoleon III’s former stables – Editor: Dalene Duvenage
contains the Elysée postal service and above all, the 16 private apartments of top presidential aides. Chief among these is JeanDavid Levitte, President Nicolas Sarkozy’s top diplomatic adviser, who wields more power than the foreign minister, as well as his chief of staff. French counter-espionage was particularly concerned, according to Le Nouvel Observateur, the weekly magazine, as Vladimir Kozhin, the Russian in charge of trying to buy the 8,400 square metre (90,400 sq foot) plot, is a former KGB agent. Mr Kozhin is head of the hugely powerful Kremlin property department, which has 50,000 employees, an empire of hotels and manages all state property, including Russian churches overseas. French intelligence concerns were
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compounded by the fact that it had detected a significant rise in Russian spy activity since the election of President Sarkozy in 2007, reaching heights not seen since the mid1980s. Mr Kozhin is a close associate of Vladimir Putin, the Russian prime minister and a former KGB officer, who was the property department’s number two in the 1990s. Mr Putin and President Dmitri Medvedev are said to have considered the construction of the Paris cathedral a key step in regaining control over the Russian Diaspora and legitimising their administration, as well as a spectacular display of Russian power in western Europe. Such was the importance of the acquisition that it was reportedly the first subject President Medvedev broached with his French counterpart in December at the
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Copenhagen climate summit. According to several sources, after the conversation Mr Sarkozy immediately phoned his budget minister who a few days later summoned Mr Kozhin to his office. Ten days later when the various tenders for the plot were examined, Russia’s was top of the pile which included bids from Saudi Arabia and Canada – with an above-market offer of 70 million euros ($90 Million). The cathedral, which still needs final planning permission from Paris’ town hall, stands to be the first Russian monument built in Paris since the Alexander III bridge in 1896, and is due to be built within the next three years. http://morrisonworldnews.com/?p=12470
Czech intelligence reports on China's technological, Russian spying attempts
information about the formerly planned installation of a U.S. missile defence radar Prague, June 1 (CTK) - The Czech military base on Czech soil straight from the Czech intelligence service (VZ) registered China's military command. The VZ says it thwarted attempts at technological espionage in the the Russian espionage attempt. The Russian Czech Republic's defence industry in 2009, diplomats who showed interest in the the VZ says in its annual report released on its information about the radar were website. expelled from the Czech Republic last Technological espionage can not only year. A few Czech diplomats were harm Czech security interests but expelled from Russia reciprocally. also endanger the security of NATO. The VZ says in its report that the Russian In addition, it threatens to harm the intelligence's activities in connection economic interests of the Czech with the U.S. radar diminished in the defence industry, the report says. second half of 2009 after the U.S. The VZ pointed to China's interest in administration of Barack Obama advanced technologies designed for military purposes in its annual report VZ’s emblem scrapped the radar project. for 2008 already. Moscow was strongly opposed to Washington's original plan to build the radar The VZ report also highlights the Russian 90 km southwest of Prague and a silo with secret services' activities in the Czech interceptor missiles in Poland as elements of Republic, where they tried to draw sensitive its missile defence shield in Central Europe. http://praguemonitor.com/2010/06/02/czech-intelligence-register-chinas-technological-spyingattempts ČTK 2 June 2010 (Ed: heading changed)
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Czech Rep: Russian Spies ‘Less Active’ 02 June 2010 (AP)
Russian activities was apparent in the second Czech intelligence officials said Russian agents half of 2009. It did not give any details. have reduced their activities in the country since U.S. President Barack Obama In September, Obama’s administration won abandoned Bush-era plans for missile defense Czech support for a new missile defense plan systems in Poland and the Czech Republic. to replace Bush-era blueprints to base a missile defense shield in the Czech Republic The Military Intelligence Agency said in its and Poland. annual report Tuesday that the decline in http://www.themoscowtimes.com/news/article/russian-spies-less-active/407342.html
NATO's spy academy 03/06/2010, France 24
The Human Intelligence Centre opened in Romania in March. The Romanian president says it was set up to counter new security threats against the North Atlantic Alliance, but the centre is also seen as a sign that Romania is cementing its position within NATO and the West. A team from France 24 was the first camera crew to gain access to the facility. Watch the video at http://www.france24.com/en/20100602-2010-nato-romania-spy-humint-espionage-intelligenceoradea
NATO and the spy from Estonia Rachel Mendleson, May 20, 2010
a wide range of NATO intelligence reports and When former Estonian senior defence official analyses”; the thousands of documents he is Herman Simm was convicted in 2009 of believed to have leaked included details of sharing NATO secrets with Russia, it wasn’t alliance defence policies, outlining immediately known how much harm he’d “installation, maintenance, done. But according to a classified procurement and the use of NATO report, the consequences of cryptographic systems.” his espionage, which spanned 12 years, were far-reaching indeed, The scandal exposes just earning Simm the dubious how vulnerable NATO has distinction of being the “most become in the wake of its damaging [spy] in alliance history.” post-Cold War expansion to include states formerly The admission, however bold, behind the Iron Curtain. shouldn’t come as much of a Before Estonia broke away surprise. As head of the security from the Soviet Union in department of Estonia’s Ministry of 1991, Simm was, secretly, a Defence until 2006, Simm, who was KGB colonel who had sentenced to 12½ years in jail after earned 44 awards and three Herman Simm pleading guilty to being a Russian medals for his exemplary informant, had access to classified service. Though at the time he presented NATO and European Union information. himself as a champion of independence, he According to the report, Simm “compromised Editor: Dalene Duvenage
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never abandoned his allegiance to Russia. In 1995, after being dismissed from his post as head of the national police amid charges of corruption, he says he was recruited by a Russian intelligence officer while on a trip to Tunisia. (He claims the officer threatened to expose his KGB past if he didn’t co-operate.)
He began working in Estonia’s defence ministry after his return. For reasons that are still unknown, Western counterespionage officials put Simm under surveillance in 2008, which ultimately led to his arrest. But, by then, the damage, which is described as significant and indefinite, had been done. http://www2.macleans.ca/2010/05/20/nato-and-the-spy-from-estonia/
Terrorists seeking nuclear materials: Russian official Agence France-Presse, Moscow, June 03, 2010
countries in the post-Soviet CIS region to prevent a number of attacks, Bortnikov said. "A number of joint special operations allowed us to foil the plans of terrorists to carry out acts on the territories of CIS countries," he said. Security forces are investigating the case of a man who attempted to carry out 12 attacks in Moscow, he said. "Last year, we managed to intercept a channel of supply to Moscow of 15 kilogrammes (33 pounds) of TNT and hexogen and detain an agent who planned to carry out 12 terrorist attacks in Moscow. He has been charged." http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/europe/Terrorists-seeking-nuclear-materials-Russianofficial/Article1-552517.aspx Militants in the post-Soviet region are attempting to obtain nuclear materials for use in attacks, Russia's security services chief said on Wednesday. "We have information showing that terrorists are continuing attempts to gain access to nuclear materials (and) biological and chemical components," Alexander Bortnikov said at a press conference in Yekaterinburg, the RIA Novosti news agency reported. "We are constantly paying attention to this problem," he said. Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has worked with security forces of other
CIA Director Lauds Efforts of Bulgaria's Borisov Govt May 27, 2010 (Ed: excerpted) cooperation with regard to The United States will keep up the efforts for coping with its efforts in support of corruption and establishing Bulgaria’s security, CIA greater security here in Director Leon Panetta declared Bulgaria. I have given Prime in Sofia. Panetta met with Minister Borisov greetings Bulgarian Prime Minister from the US President Boyko Borisov and Interior Barack Obama, and have Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov; he assured him of the strong has arrived on a two-day visit support of the United States to Bulgaria. for Bulgaria and the “I have assured the Prime L-R: US Ambassador to Bulgaria James Warlick, Minister that we are going Interior Minister Tsvetan Tsvetanov, CIA Director safety and security of to do everything possible in Leon Panetta, and Bulgarian Prime Minister Boyko the Bulgarian people,” Borisov. Photo by BGNES the CIA head stated order to continue our good Editor: Dalene Duvenage
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commented that he had discussed a number Agency DANS as well as adopting key of specific topics with the Bulgarian leaders. amendments to the Penal Code. The Interior Minister emphasized what he described as “The CIA Director provided a clear support for increased trust on part of the CIA in Bulgaria’s the government’s efforts against corruption Prime Minister Boyko Borisov because “he and organized crime,” said Bulgarian PM guarantees a strong and firm political will.” Boyko Borisov after the meeting. “In the last few months we have managed to “I think that the very fact that the CIA regain the trust of all of Bulgaria’s EuroDirector is in Bulgaria is a very positive Atlantic partners so that they can work testimonial to everything that our services alongside with their Bulgarian colleagues. The have achieved together,” Tsvetanov said US Drugs Enforcement Administration is pointing out that the Cabinet has managed to about to open an office in Bulgaria,” execute short-term reform measures terms of Tsvetanov said. delineating the responsibilities of the Interior Ministry and the State National Security http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=116595
CIA director Leon Panetta visits Romania May 26th, 2010
BUCHAREST, Romania (AP) - The Romanian president's office says Central Intelligence Agency Director Leon Panetta met top officials to discuss terrorism, counterespionage and internet crime. Panetta has had talks with President Traian Basescu, the head of the Romanian Intelligence Service and the Foreign Intelligence Service chief. http://www.ktar.com/?nid=46&sid=1298332/
There was no word about Panetta's visit on Wednesday prior to the brief statement from Basescu's office. No further details were available. Romania has been accused of allowing the CIA to set up a secret prison where suspected terrorists were interrogated and possibly tortured. The Romanian government has vehemently denied any complicity.
Germany: BND spy jailed for passing secrets to gay Balkan lover May 27th, 2010
A court in Munich on Wednesday jailed a former spy for the German BND intelligence service for more than two years for sharing top secret information with his boyfriend while working in Kosovo. The ex-spook, identified as the 43-yearold Anton Robert K., was posted to Pristina in 2005 to set up a network of informants on behalf of the BND. Among them was a Macedonian man who grew up in Germany, Murat A. Approved by the BND security checks, the 29-year-old was hired as an interpreter and translator.
Editor: Dalene Duvenage
But the two became romantically involved and moved in together and K. began sharing state secrets and offering access to classified documents between 2007 and 2008, prosecutors said. Der Spiegel news magazine reported that K. divulged the secrets “in the bedroom” or by allowing his lover to access to his computer. But K. neglected to reveal their personal relationship to his superiors. According to media reports, the BND only learned of the relationship when K.’s wife, who still lived in Germany with their children, informed them that he had changed his life insurance policy, making A. the beneficiary.
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After the BND informed prosecutors, the two were called back to Germany in March 2008 and arrested. On Wednesday, the higher regional Munich court found K. guilty of 21 fraud charges and sharing state secrets, sentencing him to two years and three months in jail. His boyfriend A. received a suspended sentence of one year and two months for “reconnoitring state secrets,” which prosecutors alleged the Macedonian had given to other organised crime contacts,
though they were unable to prove this during the trial. The couple was also charged with claiming fraudulent expenses of €14,700. The defence claimed the couple was victim to a homophobic witch-hunt within the BND, which was embarrassed by the affair, not least because it gave the interpreter clearance. The organisation has also reportedly been forced to sever contacts with more than a dozen informants in the Balkans due to the scandal. http://www.intelligencequarterly.com/2010/05/germany-bnd-spy-jailed-for-passing-secrets-togay-balkan-lover/
Germany: Russia, China engaging in industrial espionage Published: 22 May 10 DDP/The Local
Germany is full of Russian and Chinese spies working to get information about top business and technology developments, according to the country’s domestic intelligence service. Studies show that the German economy loses around €50 billion a year as a consequence, Burkhard Even, head of the counterintelligence section of the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution, told the audience at a recent security forum in Bonn. The spying is a mix of official, intelligence service agents, and unofficial business spooks, he said. Even estimated that of the 500 registered staff of the Russian embassy in Berlin, at least 150 were working as intelligence agents, disguised as diplomats or journalists. He said that more than four million Russians live in the country as a whole, leaving him unable to guess at how many agents might be hidden amongst them. Russian intelligence services have been instructed by the government to supply their industry with the most modern know-how to save money developing Russian products, one German official told the forum.
Editor: Dalene Duvenage
Russian firms doing deals with foreign companies have to contact intelligence services before making firm agreements, the forum heard, giving the government agencies control over investments and businesses deals. Both Russian and Chinese intelligence services are particularly focusing on German companies experiencing financial difficulties, sending agents posing as businessmen to offer sweet deals to firms operating in high-tech areas. There are around 80,000 Chinese people living in Germany, Even said, many of whom are commercial spies. China is also buying into, or taking over companies completely, in order to get access to new technological developments. He also described more underhand methods which he said were often employed by agents posing as visiting business delegations or even trainees who might use mini cameras to take pictures in factories, or secretly copy data. He said the Chinese were mostly active in the electronic sector. Some reports suggest the Chinese intelligence services have up to a
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million agents across the world collecting when they come via the internet, said Even. technical and business data to support their But the weakest link is always the innocence industries. Small and medium-sized of staff, he stressed, calling for companies companies in Germany are the worst who suspect a spy attack to contact his office. protected against such efforts, particularly Online: http://www.thelocal.de/money/20100522-27365.html
Asia India: German national arrested in Punjab was on a spying mission, claims police Punjab Newsline NetworkTuesday, 01 June 2010
According to police after his arrest he ROPAR: Thomas Kuehn, a resident of continuously changed statements. Earlier he Hamburg in Germany arrested by Punjab said he lost his passport and later he claimed police last Friday from near Bhakra Dam was that his Russian girlfriend had taken away his on a spying mission to India. He was allegedly passport to Nepal. We are looking into all spying for Germany and Checkoslovakia. aspects of this matter. Kuehn has been Police sources said Tuesday that Thomas booked under various sections of Foreigners' Kuehn had confessed that he was on spying Act. mission. The accused was also sentenced for one and half year on charges of spying in It was revealed during investigation that this 1988-89 in Germany. was his second visit to India. "He came to India in 2004 and visited various A 45-year-old German national was staying in places in Himachal Pradesh and in Jammu and a HIndu temple near Bhakra Dam. He was Kashmir before returning. He again came to arrested without any passport , visa and other India in 2007 and, thereafter, he did not required documents near Punjab's Nangal return to his home country," police said said. town in Ropar district, police said. SSP Ropar Police sources said that during the last 10 L.K.Yadav said that police parties have been years Kuhen visited various countries in dispatched to Goa, Dharamshala and Nepal Europe, America and Africa. border to get further information about the visits of Thomas Kuehn to these places. http://www.punjabnewsline.com/content/german-national-arrested-punjab-was-spying-missionclaims-police/20844
Iran 'Breaks World Record' For Intelligence and Security Related Work Thursday, May 27, 2010, RFE/RL
(Ed: excerpted)
Iran has been able to increase its authority in recent months sufficiently to "break the world record for intelligence- and securityrelated work," says a deputy interior minister for political affairs, Seyed Solat Mortazavi. Mortazavi told the hard-line Fars news agency that the Islamic Republic's intelligence services in recent months have managed to arrest people with links to Israeli and U.S. intelligence services -- marking a "turning Editor: Dalene Duvenage
point" for Iran. Mortazavi appears to be referring to the arrests of more than 2,000 key reformist figures, journalists, and bloggers and rights activists in the postelection crackdown. Here is the reaction of a Tehran-based rights activist who was among those arrested in recent months: “Obviously, in order to control millions of citizens opposed or dissatisfied with the government, the staff of
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Iran's intelligence apparatus have to work watched and monitored -- a tight security three shifts and break a world record." atmosphere reigns." People, Mirdamadi said, are "everywhere http://www.speroforum.com/site/article.asp?id=33702&t=Iran+%27Breaks+World+Record%27+Fo r+Intelligence-+and+Security-Related+Work
South Korea: Army general accused of spying for N. Korea By Park Si-soo, 4 June 2010, Korea Times
"confidential" information about the National The military and state intelligence agency are Police Agency and various private firms using investigating a two-star army general on people she met through Internet chat rooms. suspicion of leaking classified information to She entered the country by disguising herself North Korea, the defense ministry said Friday. as a defector. The investigation of the general The major general, identified only as Kim, had opened after security authorities allegedly handed sensitive had two South Koreans in custody information to a former South Thursday ă…Ą a former executive of Korean intelligence agent a local defense firm and a former recruited by North Korea, secret agent surnamed Park ă…Ą on according to prosecutors and charges of handing military secrets investigators at the Defense to the communist North after receiving Security Command (DSC). The information is operational funds. related to Korean and American forces' Park acquired military information through military operations drawn up in preparation the general, relayed it to a North Korean for the possible breakout of war, they said. agent in China, and received an unspecified The apprehension of the army general on an amount of money. Investigators will try to espionage charge came amid escalating interdetermine if Kim and Park had accomplices. Korean tension caused by the sinking of a In April, two North Korean spies were caught South Korean warship by a North Korean attempting to enter the country, also claiming torpedo near the disputed sea border in to be defectors. They were seeking to March. Forty-six crewmembers were killed in assassinate Hwang Jang-yup, the highestthe nation's most tragic naval incident since ranking North Korean defector here. the 1950-53 Korean War. It also came just days after the prosecution arrested a female North Korean for stealing http://www.koreatimes.co.kr/www/news/nation/2010/06/117_67117.html
N.Korean female spy arrested May 23, 2010, AFP
SEOUL - SOUTH KOREAN authorities have arrested a North Korean female spy who posed as a refugee in order to obtain classified information on Seoul's subway system, a news report said on Sunday. The information could be used for terrorist attacks, Seoul's Yonhap news agency said, citing the National Intelligence Service and Seoul prosecutors. The 36-year-old woman, known only by her family name Kim, entered Editor: Dalene Duvenage
South Korea via China and Laos in September 2009, passing herself off as a North Korean defector, Yonhap said. Kim obtained the classified information, including a list of emergency contacts for Seoul subway staff, from a 52-year-old former subway employee named only as Oh and handed it over to Pyongyang, it said. Oh, who met Kim online and later became her lover, was also arrested for leaking classified
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documents, the report added. Kim had run a cosmetics store and travel agency in China's Hunan Province to secure personal data on South Korean tourists for a number of years before slipping into South Korea posing as a refugee, it said. The National Intelligence Service declined to comment and officials at the Seoul http://www.straitstimes.com/BreakingNews/ Asia/Story/STIStory_530298.html
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prosecutors' office handling the case were not immediately available. Cross-border relations have worsened after a South Korean warship sank in what Seoul says was a North Korean torpedo attack near a tense sea border. The two Koreas are still technically at war since the 1950-1953 conflict ended in a fragile armistice.
Tradecraft Al-Qaida's mother of all spy manuals
The man in charge of coordinating Al-Qaida activities in Palestine has written the book on how to be a radical Islamic spy Zvi Bar'el, Haarez, 30 May 2010
"The spy shall not be concerned about any of his friends. If he knows about the existence of an important target at a certain place and time, and he relays information about this to his commanders who have decided to carry out an attack there - for example to blow up a hotel where the target is lodging - it is to be expected that the spy will be inclined to tell one of his journalist friends to avoid going there. In doing so, he will reveal that the operation is about to occur." This instruction, actually, has a precedent in the life of the Prophet Mohammed. But Sami al-Matiri, who is known as Abdullah al-Hajj, cites it at length in his instruction manual for people working for Al-Qaida. Matiri is a Kuwaiti citizen who began his career as a leftist in the movement known as Democratic Center; he later changed his spots and embraced radical Islam. He was convicted of the murder of an American citizen in Kuwait in 2002, and after spending a few years in prison was released and became a prominent Al-Qaida commander in the Arabian Peninsula. According to documents obtained by Haaretz, he is in charge of coordinating Al-Qaida activities in Palestine. Matiri's instruction manual for intelligence agents is part of a series of documents he has written. These include pointers on explosives,
Editor: Dalene Duvenage
building an organization and recruiting agents. There are also explanations about Islam's enemies. In his writings, Matiri comes across as someone who knows what he is talking about. He cites studies and conclusions from the experiences of other intelligence agencies, and he discusses methods used by Al-Qaida. Thus, for example, in the chapter on codes, Matiri says the code word for Al-Qaida's retreat from Kandahar, Afghanistan, in 2001 was an expression in colloquial Egyptian Arabic meaning "to assemble the public." This was a mistake, writes Matiri, because Western intelligence services have many people who know various languages and dialects, including Egyptian, Yemenite and Iraqi. In the event, the convoy from Kandahar was exposed and bombarded. He also tells about a far more successful experience. Ramzi Binalshibh, who helped coordinate the 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, and Mohamed Atta, who was responsible for the whole operation, had a close relationship. They understood each other by the merest hint. The two conversed in German via a chat program on the Internet; the conversation is quoted in full in the instruction manual.
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Mohamed Atta writes to his "Darling Jenny" (Binalshibh ) that the first semester will begin in three weeks, that there is no change and there are a number of encouraging ideas. "Two schools of higher education and academics, and the summer will no doubt be hot," he writes. "I want to discuss a number of details with you. There are 19 certificates for individual studies and four exams. Give my regards to the professor." Here Matiri explains that Atta was sending general information about the modus operandi as it had been planned in advance. The language used prevented the plan from being discovered. Later, another conversation took place between Atta and Binalshibh, in which more precise details were given. Atta: "Somebody asked me a riddle I can't solve and I am contacting you so you can solve it for me." Binalshibh: "Is this the time for riddles, Mohamed?" Atta: "You are my friend and no one but you can solve it." Binalshibh: "Okay, tell me the riddle." Atta: "Two sticks and between them the police and the shape of a bagel from which a stick is hanging. What does it mean?" Here the conversation ends and Matiri explains its meaning. The two sticks are the number 11, the police are the slash between them and the shape of a bagel from which a stick is hanging is the number 9. This yields 9/11, both the number for calling the police and the date set for the attacks. Only a deep understanding between the two men could have produced a coded conversation like this, to which every spy must aspire, says Matiri. Matiri covers a variety of topics in the 42 pages of his instruction manual, among them advice on how the religious spy can get out of uncomfortable situations. He suggests that "Jewish meals" be ordered on airline flights kosher meals that do not contain pork. They are marked with the letters U or K.
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One of the most difficult issues is collecting the names and job descriptions of the enemy's intelligence officers. To overcome this problem, Matiri suggests that spies join human rights organizations and even establish such groups to gather testimonies from people who have been interrogated or tortured by enemy intelligence officers. They should be asked to give the names of these officers, so the spy can build up his file. As an example of a successful operation, Matiri discusses the activities of a certain spy who gained the trust of the Arab Commission for Human Rights in Paris. He learned its ways and established a branch in a country where he hoped to gather intelligence. Matiri says that after collecting the names of foreign intelligence officers or interrogators, one has to choose carefully the best officer from whom to extract information. It's important to choose low-ranking people or those with financial problems. "We prefer mainly blacks, Hispanics or members of other minorities because they are the ones who understand what discrimination means in America," he writes. Matiri distinguishes between short-term and long-term spying, giving several examples from what he calls the activities of the Mossad, including Israeli operations in the 1950s in Egypt. He also discusses what he knows about operations by Islamic organizations. Thus, for example, he writes about the Moscow theater siege in 2002, in which about 50 Chechen fighters held about 850 hostages. (Many of them were killed when Russian special forces broke into the building ). Before the siege, the Chechen commander had his people established a catering company; they even took the trouble of obtaining the franchise to open a cafeteria in the theater. They were thus able to bring in bombs and explosives and become familiar with its halls and corridors. But to gather intelligence that is not aimed at a specific attack, the agent must also to create a fictional persona.
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"When one of us sets out for an espionage poor neighborhoods because the inhabitants action in Israel, it is important that his first usually sit outside on the sidewalks and see step be to create a background story under who is coming and going. They spot new commercial or cultural cover among the people immediately. But in wealthy Jewish diaspora in Morocco, Egypt or the neighborhoods, the neighbors do not know United States. In that way he will be able to one another, and this is what is needed in obtain 'roots' for the new persona However, intelligence work." creating a background is not enough. The Matiri also suggests establishing an academy good spy must know how to dress, speak and at which people from radical organizations adapt himself to the environment in which he would study espionage work and learn how is operating," Matiri writes. to use the intelligence operative's "tools." He "A businessman is not going to live in a poor cites the Mossad, where he says veteran spies neighborhood and a student cannot own a teach young spies how to operate. In his luxurious villa and a fleet of cars. Student opinion, this should be the working method dormitories are more appropriate for him. In for radical organizations. general, it is desirable that spies not live in http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/features/al-qaida-s-mother-of-all-spy-manuals-1.292956
Must-read UN Human Rights Council: Compilation of good practices on legal and institutional frameworks and measures that ensure respect for human rights by intelligence agencies while countering terrorism, including on their oversight. 17 May 2010. Some of these best practices: Practice 17. Members of intelligence services are legally obliged to refuse superior orders that would violate national law or international human rights law. Appropriate protection is provided to members of intelligence services who refuse orders in such situations Practice 19. Intelligence services and their oversight institutions take steps to foster an institutional culture of professionalism based on respect for the rule of law and human rights. In particular, intelligence services are responsible for training their members on relevant provisions of national and international law, including international human rights law (editor: taken from South African Ministerial Review Commission on Intelligence, p. 233) Practice 22. Intelligence-collection measures that impose significant limitations on human rights are authorized and overseen by at least one institution that is external to and independent of the intelligence services. This institution has the power to order the revision, suspension or termination of such collection measures. Intelligence-collection measures that impose significant limitations on human rights are subject to a multilevel process of authorization that includes approval within intelligence services, by the political executive and by an institution that is independent of the intelligence services and the executive. Practice 30. Intelligence services are not permitted to operate their own detention facilities or to make use of any unacknowledged detention facilities operated by third parties. Practice 31. Intelligence-sharing between intelligence agencies of the same State or with the authorities of a foreign State is based on national law that outlines clear parameters for intelligence exchange, including the conditions that must be met for information to be shared, the entities with which intelligence may be shared, and the safeguards that apply to exchanges of intelligence. Practice 35. Intelligence services are explicitly prohibited from employing the assistance of foreign intelligence services in any way that results in the circumvention of national legal standards and institutional controls on their own activities. If States request foreign intelligence services to undertake activities on their behalf, they require these services to comply with the same legal standards that would apply if the activities were undertaken by their own intelligence services.
http://www2.ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrcouncil/docs/14session/A.HRC.14.46.pdf
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Go to http://4knowledge-za.blogspot.com/ for Intelligence related events around the world and copies of previous SA Intelligencers.
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June 29-30: Information Operations Europe, London, UK July 1-2: Ninth European Conference on Information Warfare and Security, Thessaloniki, Greece July 11-13: The Dungarvan Conference 2010: Analytic Best Practices. Dungarvan, Ireland July 27-29: Intelligence – The Next Domino? Australian Institute of Professional Intelligence Officers (AIPIO) Annual Conference: Melbourne, Australia August 09-11: International Symposium on Open Source Intelligence & Web Mining 2010 (OSINT-WM 2010) Odense, Denmark September 10: Netherlands Intelligence Studies Association: Ethics & Effectivity of Intelligence in the times of Counter terrorism September 28-30: Geospatial Defence and Intelligence Asia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia September 28-30: Geospatial Intelligence Summit, Vienna Austria October 14-15: CASIS International conference, Ottawa, Canada May 2011: Future of Intelligence and Counter Intelligence: Threats, Challenges, Opportunities, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Publishing the Intelligencer is a labour of love, an awareness campaign, and an educational vehicle. It will not be used for commercial purposes and email addresses are confidential. Previous editions can be found at http://4knowledge-za.blogspot.com/ Notice: The SA Intelligencer does not confirm the correctness of the information carried in the media, neither does it analyse the agendas or political affiliations of such media. The SA Intelligencer’s purpose is informing our readers of the developments in the world of intelligence for research and environmental scanning purposes. We only use OSINT from free open sources and not those from fee-based sources. The SA Intelligencer contains copyrighted material - the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. The content has been harvested from various news aggregators, web alerts, lists etc. Further reproduction or redistribution is subject to original copyright restrictions. 4Kowledge provides no warranty of ownership of the copyright, or accuracy with respect to the original source material. Contact Dalene Duvenage at dalene@4knowledge.co.za should you wish to subscribe or unsubscribe.
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